Chennai police arrests travel startup Stayzilla's founder & CEO Yogendra Vasupal

Highlights:

1. Early morning on Wednesday, Stayzilla's founder and CEO Yogendra Vasupal posted an account of harassment he was undergoing due to his politically influential landlord and a media agency the company had a dispute with, the report said

2. The company's co-founder Sanchit Singhi mentioned in an e-mail threats and harassment claims from the advertising firm and a complaint that the firm had registered in Mylapore Police Station

3. Indicating that he was under duress, Vasupal conveyed through a Medium post that his landlord demanded immediate payment "for which he had accepted a post dated cheque" 

Travel startup firm Stayzilla's founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Yogendra Vasupal has been arrested by commissioner of police in Chennai and locked up in Puzhal prison, The Economic Times reported citing a source.

The news report citing an e-mail sent by the company's co-founder Sanchit Singhi said that Singhi has asked investors of the company to help Vasupal who went 'missing' or out of contact after Vasupal last confirmed his location at the commisioner of police department after which he sent a message to Singhi saying 'they have snatched his phone,' the e-mail said.

A source close to the newspaper has confirmed that Jigsaw Advertising had slapped charges of defrauding against the company causing Vasupal's arrest. 

Singhi's e-mail also mentioned threats and harassment claims from the advertising firm and a complaint that the firm had registered in Mylapore Police Station.

ALSO READ: Paytm throws lifeline to Snapdeal, Stayzilla ex-staffers 

He further said in an e-mail that police had also visited Stayzilla's Bengaluru office earlier, but since they had no warrant they were asked to leave. 

Early morning on Wednesday, Vasupal posted an account of harassment he was undergoing due to his politically influential landlord and a media agency the company had a dispute with, the report said.

Indicating that he was under duress, Vasupal conveyed through a Medium post that his landlord demanded immediate payment "for which he had accepted a post dated cheque."

The landlord then got violent and assaulted the admin staff "threatening to kill him with the revolver in his car," Vasupal said in the post, cited the report.

The post also has CCTV videos showing violence, which Vasupal used to register an FIR against the landlord. 

"I don't personally owe anybody money and I am wondering how can they get confused on such a basic matter as this was a clear civil case. I also pointed out that we have been asking the other company to take it to court if they felt they were wronged as we felt within our right," the report said quoting Vasupal as saying in his post about the dispute with the media company. 

"On Sunday, I got to know that the complaint filed against us had false accusations like Sachit going to the vendor's office to threaten with two henchmen of some MLA. That I used to call him and threaten him of dire consequences if he pursued the matter," Vasupal wrote. 

"I have always quietly felt that all knowledge/IT/BPO workers in Bengaluru are only looked at as a source of revenue which can be gotten by shaking them down. This is across all government departments. This is while we pay and bring in the bulk of the taxes to the city," Vasupal mentioned in his post. 

Stayzilla was started in 2005 and the company recently shutdown its operations in February to rethink its business strategy.  

It had raised about $34 million across four rounds of funding from investors like Matrix Partners India and Nexus Ventures Partners, among others. 

As the news of Vasupal's arrest went viral, people have come out in strong support of Stayzilla and its co-founder Vasupal on Twitter asking ministers to intervene. 

Nasscom's board member, tech entrepreneur and investor, Ravi Gururaj said on Twitter," Disappointed + distressed @ heavy handed tactics against @YogiVasupal Stayzilla. Totally unacceptable. Alerting authorities requesting help!"

Disappointed + distressed @ heavy handed tactics against @YogiVasupal Stayzilla. Totally unacceptable. Alerting authorities requesting help!

— Ravi Gururaj (@ravigururaj) March 15, 2017

Priyank Kharge, Minister of IT & BT of Karnataka government has shown his support stating on Twitter that he is working to resolve Stayzilla issue with his counter part in Chennai.

Working to see how we can sort out @stayzilla issue with my counter part in Chennai. Will be reaching out to him soon.

— Priyank Kharge (@PriyankKharge) March 15, 2017